February 26: Croc, motivated by his former girlfriend Vera Angleton’s disgust at his current form, decides to be the patsy for Riddler’s plan.

Batman: Killing Time - The Batman Universe TBU Collected Review: Batman: Killing Time - The Batman Universe

March 4: Catwoman (disguised as a blonde) teaches Mrs. Barrington (the bank president’s wife) tennis, has tea with her, then changes into Catwoman and holds her hostage, taking down the guards brutally.It seems to be set in the early days of Batman’s career for no real reason. It definitely doesn’t follow King’s Batman run as the Batman/Catwoman relationship is completely non-existent here. In fact Catwoman is written very differently from the Cat in King’s run - here she’s very vicious and quite mad. Killer Croc kills the guard. Batman arrives and engages, but Riddler has already gotten what he wanted across the city, using Croc and Catwoman as his distractions and leverage. Riddler and Catwoman drive off with a tiny box. April 17: Batman fights Ra’s, seeking the Help, who vanished, and explains why he kept the Eye Ra’s gave him, tormented by it. Overview: In Batman: Killing Time, during year two of Batman’s career, Batman stands against Catwoman, Riddler, the newly created villain, the Help, and the US Government in a plot to control a mystical artifact connected to the slaughter of hundreds. Editor’s Note: This collected edition includes all six issues of the miniseries Batman: Killing Time, which had its first issue released in March 2022 and the final issue released in August 2022. This review focuses on the story as a whole rather than the individual issues that made up the limited series.

BATMAN: KILLING TIME | DC BATMAN: KILLING TIME | DC

Despite the beautiful, incredibly sexy, and energetic art by veteran superstar artist David Marquez (a new collaborator with King), the message of this miniseries is much, much more nihilistic than the messages of both his main Batman run and his Batman/Catwoman run, both of which try to show the meaning and help that love and family can bring to a life of trauma (A small link between Catwoman and the Joker early in the chronology of the run provides an Easter egg for fans of King’s Batman/Catwoman series, which shows that relationship developing throughout their lifetimes.). This story has none of that to levan the flat misery that the four villains unleash on Gotham – but King and Marquez’s brilliant storytelling makes the dark pill slide home much more easily. The plot is fairly simple: Catwoman gets a tip from the Joker about the MacGuffin. She recruits the Riddler to set up a buy for the MacGuffin. Batman catches wind of the heist and is especially upset the MacGuffin has been stolen. Penguin, who has been double-crossed in the midst of all this, calls in reinforcements in the form of The Help, who also becomes interested in the MacGuffin. These narratives converge in a big kerfuffle. Killer Croc enters the bank in the rain, and the guard lets him in without challenge. He begins the robbery. New Commissioner Jim Gordon is alerted and turns on the Bat-signal. Riddler approaches Mr. Barrington, bank president. Synopsis (spoilers ahead) : There is a lot that happens in Batman: Killing Time, and there really is no way to condense it to a standard-size synopsis without missing elements important to the story. So here is the very short condensed version of what happens first.And if you are looking for a longer version of what happens in Batman: Killing Time, read on for a much more detailed version of the events as we travel through time. One very interesting discussion point on the series centers around how King creates two unique villainous/antagonist characters in this miniseries. Unlike his eighty-five issues of Batman, which very much feels like a deep mining of Batman’s history, with barely any new characters created or used by King (in contrast with the extremely prolific inventor James Tynion, who invented at least one new character per issue in the run immediately following King!), the Help and Agent Nuri Espinoza have distinct personalities and looks. The hardcover release of Batman: Killing Time uses David Marquez’s main cover for the first issue, a standard but still quite a fun composition featuring Batman looming over Riddler, a slinky Catwoman, Killer Croc, Penguin, a racing car, and an open bank vault. The Direct Market (local comic shops) hardcover has an exclusive variant cover by Marquez, showing Batman surrounded by the breaking glass of a watch face, Riddler, Catwoman, Croc, Penguin, and the Help reflected in flying shards. Tom King and David Marquez’s Killing Time is a decent done-in-one Batman book that’s always unpredictable and never boring, with fantastic art throughout, though ultimately the story is a forgettable one with a very underwhelming finale.